State Department Revives Keystone Pipeline

SARAH BURT – Within weeks of taking office, Donald Trump has revived the controversial tarsands pipeline project that President Obama canceled in response to massive public opposition. The Keystone XL pipeline was slated to transport dirty tarsands from Alberta, Canada, diagonally across the continental United States to refineries in Illinois and Texas.

Mass actions in Washington DC against the pipeline in 2013 were the biggest environmental protests in the history of the nation and brought together diverse groups of people united by their opposition. When Obama finally ended the project in 2015, it was hailed as the movement’s biggest, most tangible victory.

Is all of that in jeopardy under the new administration that has stuffed oil and gas executives into its cabinet?